imagined, but by the devils, who were desirous to destroy them, or by the
omnipotent hand of God, who adds activity to natural causes, that he may
imprint more deeply in their hearts the fear of his justice and his
wrath.

One of those wonderful earthquakes happened on the 29th of September; on
that day, consecrated to the honour of St Michael, the Christians were
assembled in great numbers, and the Father said mass. In the midst of the
sacrifice, the earth was so violently shaken, that the people ran in a
hurry out of the church. The Father feared lest the altar might be
overthrown, yet he forsook it not, and went through with the celebration
of the sacred mysteries, thinking, as he said himself, that the blessed
archangel, at that very time, was driving the devils of the island down
to hell; and that those infernal spirits made all that noise and
tumult, out of the indignation which they had to be banished from that
place where they had held dominion for so many ages.

The undaunted resolution of Father Xavier amazed the barbarians; and gave
them to believe, that a man who remained immovable while the rocks and
mountains trembled, had something in him of divine; but that high opinion
which most of them had conceived of him, gave him an absolute authority
over them; and, with the assistance of God's grace, which operated in
their souls while he was working by outward means, he made so total a
change in them, that they who formerly, in respect of their manners, were
like wolves and tygers, now became tractable and mild, and innocent as
lambs.

Notwithstanding this, there were some amongst them who did not divest
themselves fully, and at once, of their natural barbarity; either to
signify, that divine grace, how powerful soever, does not work all things